Saturday, September 27, 2014

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Watching TV, as seems to be our current Friday night activity. With a takeaway. We're pretty wild these days! Tomorrow we have some friends coming to stay, so we also did a bit of cleaning and I spent a few hours creating a beef bourguignon (my signature dish). See? Wild!

Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, At Rochy and Jdog's. We'd arranged to meet for dinner (it's strange going from living with them and seeing them every day to having to arrange to have dinner together!) and of course I suggested my new favourite place, Smash Sausage Kitchen.
We were joined by Sha, Tristan, Jess and Mitch too, and had a long-overdue catch-up, then Andy, and I went back to Rochy and Jdog's, drank peppermint tea and fell asleep on their sofabed.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Looking up Xtend Barre. Chrystal and I had decided to try it, so we were sussing out where it is and what we needed to wear. It's an awesome mix of pilates, ballet and some crazy toning/stretching activity, which made our legs hurt after 45 minutes of lunging, pulsing and using muscles I clearly don't usually use!

After work, I also had a netball match, which was a bit of a struggle because I was already in achy pain, but also I had to play a half at GA. And I was terrible! But then I got to go back to my normal C position. Hoops were so awesome tonight, everyone battled away (even though we were a player down), which resulted in a two-goal win. Woop, go Hoops!

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, At the beach. After last night's shenanigans in Newtown, we had a semi-late start to the day, but the sun was shining so we wanted to make the most of the glorious sunny day! It's been pretty rainy in Sydney recently, so it was a very welcome change.
We took Dana out and went for a good walk along Umina Beach, then I sat down with my book, sunbathed and read for a couple of hours, while Andy swam, threw the ball for Dana and was much more active than me... That's usually how our beach days go (me lazy, him active).
After a few hours, we headed back for lunch and then had an even lazier afternoon of napping, reading, getting a few jobs done, and basically not doing much. We rounded off our day with a barbie on the verandah. Bloody love a lazy Sunday!

Current location: Newtown
11.11pm, At a party. We got home pretty late last night from a party at kara and Phil's. The theme was Wes Anderson films, so Andy went as Owen Wilson's character from The Darjeeling Limited, and I went as Mrs Fox from Fantastic Mr Fox. Before we went there, we went to the Smash Sausage Kitchen in Newtown and, oh my goodness, I was so overwhelmed, I almost cried! The food was amaaaazing (I do particularly love sausages!) and the service and friendliness of the staff was awesome. We'll definitely be going back – I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that we didn't know this place existed when we just lived down the road from it! The party was so much fun, as Kara's parties always are...

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Sitting on the couch in front of my computer, as I had been for the past four hours. What a nerd. I got up at 6.45am today (I know! On a Saturday!) to Skype my amazing friends (the bridal party from Sarah's wedding last month) who were all having a cheese and wine party. It was so good to catch up with them and have a really good giggle so early in the morning! We chatted for about an hour, then instead of going back to bed, I decided to stay up and organise myself a bit, so we can go and enjoy the sun this afternoon!

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Current location: Eveleigh, Sydney
11.11am, Arranging my card at work. My sister Pippa sent me this lovely card, and it made me smile so I thought I'd leave it on my desk so it makes me smile every day. I love my sisters, and I love getting post!

Current location: Sydney
11.11pm, Sleeping. Tired out. Happy. Tonight our new season of netball started, and Hoops went out strong and grabbed an 18-4 win (and I got Man of the Match, woop!). It was such, such a good game, with everyone playing so well. We have a new recruit, Amy, who has joined since Rianne left Australia (booooo), who was fab, and everyone was just popping the goals in and intercepting all over the place! One of those games that was just so much fun to play. Afterwards, Jess and I went to the pub with Mitch and Andy for schnitty to celebrate and rehydrate.

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Reading in the house. The weather couldn't decide whether it was going to rain or not, so we played it safe and stayed inside for a while!When the sun did come out, we went over to Little Beach, where Andy went surfing, and Jess and I went for a bush walk. It turned out to be a beautiful day! As we were leaving the beach, we passed some people barbecuing sausages and drinking beer, and immediately got jealous and went to the supermarket to buy sausages. Our own little barbie in the afternoon was so lovely that Jess decided to stay on Sunday night too, so we all had a sausage, a beer and toasted a fab weekend!

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, On the beach with Andy and Dana. We just went down to the beach by the house for a walk, throw the ball for Dana and grab a coffee, but the latter two things didn't go that well together. One spilt coffee later, we wandered up to watch the netball grand finals and got caught in an almighty downpour.
In the afternoon, Jess came to visit, so I made a big beef bourguignon and we finished off the evening with cheese and port. Got to love it when it rains and you can fully embrace snuggling up inside with comfort food.

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11pm, Watching TV, drinking wine and not doing much else. Andy and I had the loveliest, laziest day (after a lovely, lazy night last night!), as both of us had the day off, with no plans. We had a chilled morning then, when the sun came out, went over to Pearl Beach for a walk with Dana the dog. It was a gorgeous day, but the sea was craaaazy (as it always seems to be at Pearl Beach) so I didn't go in.
I had a run in the afternoon, while Andy went back to the beach for a surf, then I made lasagne, and opened a bottle of my favourite wine.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Blogging. Not at work. Thanks to working last weekend, our kind editor gave us today off. It couldn't have come any sooner, as everyone was pretty tired out after a busy week or two. Andy is off today too, so last night we came home, ordered takeaway, had an espresso martini, snuggled up and watched Wolf Creek 2. I loved Wolf Creek, and had been dying (no pun intended) to watch the second one. It's pretty good, more gory and gruesome from the first, and has a pretty weird xenophobic undertone, but still awesome. And now I have the whole weekend to do nothing! Yessss.

Current location: Paddington
11.11pm, At Nick and Bree's again, after having been to trivia at the Forresters, again (just like last week). Only this time, Hoops managed to squeeze in a quick netball match first. It was actually our final, but because it's been raining every Tuesday for months, it was the first game I've played in about six weeks. So nice to get back on the court, even if the team we were playing were a bit on the mean side. We got beaten, but we didn't go down without a fight, and I was so proud of the girls, as I have been all season. Hoops rocks, and is definitely one of my favourite things about living in Australia.
After the netball match, we went for a post-game beer and to join the others for trivia. I didn't contribute much, other than knowing how old Justin Timberlake is (33, if you're interested). Glad to know my job is worthwhile!

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, At work. Yep! We landed an exclusive late last night, which meant going to press a few days early, so this morning we all came into the office to begin our working week! At the time it was super top secret but now the issue is already out and on the shelves, I can reveal it was Brad and Angelina's wedding photos. Great score for New Idea, and always fun to work when there's such a buzz going on. I still find it hilarious how much my life is dictated by people I will never meet though (Brad and Ange, Kate Middleton etc etc)...

Current location: Darlinghurst
11.11am, Parking the car. Today we went house-hunting with Jess and Mitch. They're moving soon and are looking at a few options all over Sydney, so we joined them. I love house-hunting, especially when it's not for me! No pressure then, you see.
Before we met Jess and Mitch, we'd been for a yummy breakfast at Una's, one of the yummiest places to eat breakfast ever. It's a firm favourite of mine and Andy's, and we always take any visitors we have there too. What makes it so amazing? Two words: Potato. Rosti.
After a few hours of driving around Sydney in the rain and looking at some awesome houses (1 really awesome, 1 quite awesome, 1 OK), we went for a drink at The Local with a few friends, then Andy and I came back up the coast. I was shattered and pretty much passed out on the couch as soon as we got back, woke up to eat dinner and watch an episode of Orange is the New Black, then went back to sleep.

Current location: Paddington
11.11pm, Watching rubbish/amazing TV. I was at Bree's with our friend Em who is visiting from Melbourne. We were all a but knackered after a full-on week at work, so we had a few wines, ordered takeaway and vegged out. Perfecto!

Current location: Glebe
11.11pm, At Chrystal's house. We were sitting on the couches with a glass of wine, chatting and relaxing. Today was press day, and our boss Patrick was away, so it was my first time sending the magazine to press since I got promoted. Exciting times! All went relatively smoothly, so Chrystal and I rewarded ourselves with pizza, wine and a lack a knowledge that the next day would be a hectic one at work. Ah well!

Current location: Paddington
11.11pm, Asleep at Nick and Bree's. We decided to stay in the city tonight (instead of going back up the coast), so we could see some friends. We met them at the Norfolk for a drink, then headed to to the Forresters to do trivia (pub quiz), but it was too busy. So instead we ate schnitty, had a drink and had lovely catch-up chats. Not a wild night, but a lovely one.

Current location: Ettalong Beach
11.11am, Reading on the verandah. Today was hot and sunny but, due to getting back mega late last night, we both took a while to get going this morning. I read for a couple of hours (while Andy made us a fry-up!), then we went to the beach. It was so warm and lovely, I sunbathed, read some more, we played a bit of football, threw the ball for the dog and Andy went surfing, then we headed back home.

I decided to go for a run, which was hot and hard, then we cycled over to Umina for an early dinner at a new Mexican place that's opened. One way-too-sharp Margarita, three tacos and a Coronoa later, we cycled home, sorted ourselves out for the coming week and sat in front of the TV. Such a lovely day with a lovely man.

Current location: Bondi
11.11pm, On a bus back to the station to begin the two-hour journey back to Woy Woy. We'd been at Rianne's birthday/leaving party, which was so much fun, until it was time to say bye. We'd been at her house, playing games, dancing, laughing, reminiscing, and trying to convince her not to go. She flies on Monday, and it just sucks!

I have been having the best time with Ri in since she arrived in November... We've both played netball together in our team, Hoops, and she's been racking up the Man of the Match nominations. We've become Swifts members, and been to watch our favourite netball team whooping butt most weeks, and commiserated together when they lost (plus snuck wine in on the last game of the season). We've been in a book club together, Bookwurmz, and Ri has always been the first one to finish, and has usually read all the other suggested books too. We've been out to bars, been dancing, been jogging, both fallen in love with F45 fitness classes, had a hilarious Christmas together (plus two Ada Lane Christmases), lived together 'Up the Coast' for a too-short amount of time. We've been on a fab holiday to the Blue Mountains, where we walked all day and boozed all night.

She's has said 'yes' to any idea, suggestion or event put to her, and, above all, has been one of the most amazing, loyal and generous friends I have ever had. Have fun on the rest of your travels my love; I wish I'd burnt your passport!

Current location: Eveleigh
11.11am, Reading a text from Rianne. Today is her birthday, and she's been staying with us, so we woke her up with balloons, muffins, candles and a green smoothie. So Sydney.

Current location: Erskineville
11.11pm, At Rochy's house. Tonight we had Book Club, which was fab, but also a bit sad as it's Rianne's last one before she leaves Australia next week. We celebrated her awesomeness by eating a lot of amazing homemade food, drinking a good amount of wine, and designing a tattoo we think she should get.